Students must have reliable broadband access if they are to take advantage of 21st-century online education programs that can increase their access to educational opportunities, according to a new report from the U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA).

Purdue University will be one of the early recipients of Verizon Wireless‘ rollout of a 4G network starting this year. This fourth generation data network, which is using Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, is expected to provide four to 10 times the transmission speeds currently available in 3G networks.

Four decades after it hosted the first message to be sent out over the Internet in 1969, the University of California, Los Angeles will be managing a joint institutional research project to lay out the framework for a new Internet. This time, however, the computer scientists and networking experts will be joined by theater arts and film people. The project is being funded through a $7.9 million research grant issued through the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering.